By Yuri Kageyama
TOKYO (AP) --The Tokyo Olympic bid-rigging scandal widened Tuesday with Japanese advertising giant Dentsu and five other companies charged by Tokyo district prosecutors.
Executives or management-level officials at each of the accused companies, and a Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official, were charged with violating anti-monopoly laws.
No trial dates have been set.
The charges center around the companies and individuals illegally colluding in assigning contracts for the Games, and test events that came before the Games, according to prosecutors.
Among the companies facing charges are Dentsu Group, Hakuhodo, Tokyu Agency and Cerespo. All deal with event organizing, sports promotion or marketing.
Yasuo Mori, a senior Olympic official, and Koji Henmi, who headed the sports division at Dentsu, were among the seven people charged. Both Mori and Henmi were arrested earlier this month.
Dentsu was a key force in landing the Olympics for Tokyo in 2013. French prosecutors have looked into allegations that International Olympic Committee members may have been bribed to vote for Tokyo.
Once the Olympics landed in Tokyo, Dentsu became the chief marketing arm of the Games and raised a record of $3.3 billion in local sponsorship. That was at least twice as large as any previous Olympics.
Tokyo organizers say they spent $13 billion to organize the 2020 Olympics, which were delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a government audit suggests the expenditure might have been twice that. At least 60% was public money.
The Tokyo scandal has soured the chances of the northern city of Sapporo of landing the 2030 Olympics. It was the early favorite. The IOC has recently sought out Stockholm, Sweden, as a potential candidate.
Prosecutors have also been investigating a separate bribery scandal centered around Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Dentsu executive.
Takahashi was a member of the Olympic organizing committee and wielded tremendous influence over the Olympic business.
The scandal involving Takahashi involves bribery allegations over Olympic sponsorships that were won by companies such as Aoki Holdings, a clothing company that dressed Japan's Olympic team, and Sun Arrow, which produced the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic mascots.
The maximum penalty for a company convicted of bid-rigging is a fine of up to 500 million yen ($3.7 million). An individual, if found guilty, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million yen ($37,000).
Takahashi was released on bail late last year after more than four months in detention.
Trials have begun for officials at Aoki and ADK Holdings, a major advertising company, in the bribery cases.
AP sports writer Stephen Wade contributed.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More